65 Facts About Chris Rea

Christopher Anton Rea is a British rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist from Middlesbrough.

Chris Rea had already become "a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10" with the single "The Road to Hell ".

Chris Rea recorded a duet with Elton John, "If You Were Me".

Chris Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988,1989 and 1990.

Chris Rea has never toured the United States, where he is best known for the 1978 single "Fool ", which reached No 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart, earning him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1978.

Chris Rea has sold more than 40 million records worldwide.

Christopher Rea was born on 4 March 1951 in Middlesbrough in the North Riding of Yorkshire to an Italian father, Camillo Rea originating from Arpino in the Province of Frosinone, and an Irish mother, Winifred K Slee, as one of seven children.

The name Chris Rea was well known locally thanks to his father's ice cream factory and cafe chain.

Chris Rea wanted to improve the business, but his ideas got no support from his father.

Chris Rea bought his first guitar in his early twenties, a 1961 Hofner V3 and 25-watt Laney amplifier He played primarily "bottleneck" guitar, known as slide guitar.

Chris Rea's playing style was inspired by Charlie Patton whom he had heard on the radio.

Chris Rea initially thought Patton's playing sounded like a violin.

Chris Rea was influenced by Blind Willie Johnson and Sister Rosetta Tharpe as well as by the playing of Ry Cooder and Joe Walsh.

Chris Rea was listening to Delta blues musicians like Sonny Boy Williamson II and Muddy Waters, gospel blues, and opera to light orchestral classics to develop his style.

Chris Rea was self-taught, and soon tried to join a friend's group, The Elastic Band, as the first choice for guitar or bass.

Chris Rea commented that, at that time, he was "meant to be developing my father's ice-cream cafe into a global concern, but I spent all my time in the stockroom playing slide guitar".

Chris Rea began writing songs for the band and took up singing only because the singer in the band failed to show up for a playing engagement.

Chris Rea then went on to form the band The Beautiful Losers which received Melody Maker's Best Newcomers award in 1973.

Chris Rea secured a solo recording deal with independent Magnet Records, and released his first single entitled "So Much Love" in 1974.

Chris Rea guested on Catherine Howe's EP The Truth of the Matter.

Chris Rea recorded his first album that same year, but according to Michael Levy the recordings were burned and started over again because it did not capture his whole talent.

The title referred to a stage name that Chris Rea had suggested when the record label insisted that his given name did not sound "croony" enough.

The lead single, "Fool ", was Chris Rea's biggest hit in the US, reaching No 1 on the Adult Contemporary Singles chart, and No 12 on the Billboard Hot 100.

Levy remembers him as "more of a thoughtful, introspective poet than a natural pop performer" which Levy felt stopped Chris Rea from becoming a bigger star.

Chris Rea says that it "is still the only song I've ever not played guitar on, but it just so happened to be my first single".

Chris Rea recorded his self-produced third album, Tennis, with musicians from Middlesbrough, and it received positive reviews.

Chris Rea had a difficult working relationship with Dudgeon and the other "men in suits" who he felt "smoothed out" the blues-influenced elements of his music.

From 1983, Chris Rea's music began to better reflect his wishes and capabilities, despite pressure from his record company due to the accumulated costs of the production for his first four albums.

Chris Rea changed managers and went on a UK club tour, followed by a 60-date tour as a support act for Canadian band Saga.

Chris Rea established a loyal following in West Germany, and believes this audience saved his career as there was no "image-led market", but only "by music and by word of mouth".

In 1986, Chris Rea was a support act along with The Bangles and The Fountainhead for Queen at Slane Concert for an estimated 80,000 audience.

Chris Rea performed at Milano Suono festival at stadium San Siro, Italy.

Chris Rea commented that at the time he realized that "I could be as big as I liked, if I was prepared to do the touring".

Chris Rea said his neglect of the US market was one of his biggest mistakes because "every time I see a car that's too much money, I definitely regret it, just for five minutes".

The album was partly promoted by Chris Rea's taking part in the non-Championship "TOCA Shootout" round of the 1993 British Touring Car Championship, although he was eliminated in the first round.

In 1994 another compilation album, The Best of Chris Rea, was released which peaked at No 3 in UK.

Chris Rea rebounded in 2000, when King of the Beach made it to the UK Top 30.

Chris Rea was first "diagnosed with pancreatic cancer at the age of just 33".

Since having this surgery Chris Rea has had problems with diabetes and a weaker immune system, necessitating the need to take thirty-four pills and seven injections a day.

Chris Rea wanted the label to be a place "where musicians came and made a record" of this style of music.

Chris Rea was disappointed with the music business when Michael Parkinson, who supported him to do Dancing Down the Stony Road, told him songs longer than three minutes were not played as often on radio anymore.

In 2003, Chris Rea released Blue Street and Hofner Blue Notes, and The Blue Jukebox the following year.

Chris Rea released the compilation Still So Far to Go in October 2009 which contained some of his best known hits over the last thirty years as well as songs from his "blues" period.

Chris Rea started the European tour called "Still So Far to Go" in January 2010.

November 2014 saw Chris Rea embark on a European tour called The Last Open Road Tour, with the UK part of the tour commencing on 1 December in Manchester and ending on 20 December in London.

Chris Rea suffered a stroke in 2016 which left him with slurred speech and reduced movement in his arms and fingers.

Chris Rea was taken to hospital where his condition was stabilized.

Chris Rea's first guitar was a Hofner V3 or 173 which he bought in a second-hand shop because, at the time, there were not that many shops in Middlesbrough where one could purchase a guitar.

Chris Rea played the V3 until 1979, although, by Rea's reckoning, it was a "dreadful guitar with an appalling action, but playing slide it didn't matter".

Chris Rea bought the instrument after seeing a Ry Cooder concert at the City Hall in Newcastle.

Chris Rea wrote the title track and music score for the 1993 drama film Soft Top Hard Shoulder.

Chris Rea wrote and produced the 1996 film La Passione, partially inspired by Rea's childhood experience of falling in love with motor racing and F1 Ferrari's driver Wolfgang von Trips.

Chris Rea was the lead actor in the 1999 comedy film Parting Shots, alongside Felicity Kendal, John Cleese, Bob Hoskins and Joanna Lumley.

Chris Rea, ironically, played a character who was told that cancer gave him six weeks to live and decided to kill those people who had badly affected his life.

Chris Rea has acknowledged that several of his songs were "born out of Middlesbrough", his hometown.

In 1994, Chris Rea was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and underwent a life-saving operation to remove his pancreas, gallbladder, and a portion of his liver.

Chris Rea is married to Joan Lesley, with whom he has been in a relationship since they met as teenagers on 6 April 1968 in their native Middlesbrough.

Chris Rea used to live at Cookham, Berkshire, where he owned Sol Mill Recording Studios and produced some of his later albums.

Chris Rea is a fan of historic motor racing and races a Ferrari Dino, a Ferrari 328, and a 1955 Lotus 6.

Chris Rea owned and raced the 1964 Lotus Elan 26R, and the well known Caterham 7 from the Auberge album cover, until it was sold in 2005 with all proceeds going to the charity NSPCC.

Chris Rea owned the Ferrari 330 which was used as a donor car for the replica of Ferrari 250 Le Mans used in the 1996 movie La Passione.

Chris Rea joined Historic Racing Drivers Club, where he drives a 1957 Morris Minor 1000 police car.

Chris Rea has taken the opportunity to get involved in Formula One on a few occasions, including as a pit lane mechanic for the Jordan team during the 1995 Monaco Grand Prix.

Chris Rea recorded a song, "Saudade", in tribute to three-time Formula One world champion Ayrton Senna.

Chris Rea considers that the politicians and government of the UK and EU became out of touch with the common people.